Michael Brophy

Michael Brophy

Brophy, Michael

painter

Northwest artist

Oregon artist

Apart from a year's study in Italy, Brophy has lived in Oregon all his life. His Northwest landscapes convey the tension when nature and human endeavor meet. "I'm not interested in a romanticized or sanitized vision of nature," he says, "but one in which the marks of civilization are given their due." With Curtain and Tree Opera I, Brophy is playing up the drama of one environment replaicing another--reminding us that 150 years ago, the region was mostly a raw forest. In Swarm and People's View, Brophy shows his ability to deal with serious subjects in a humorous ways, "I'm really a city guy in nature," Brophy says, "I like the idea of nature on the edge with people pressing against it."

Artist biography reproduced with permission of Katharine Harmon, author of The Pacific Northwest Landscape: A Painted History.

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